Been a while hasn't it?

To say Cyborg was surprised that Beast Boy was already in the kitchen when the robotic man got up would be an understatement. He had set himself a brain timer to wake him up at five in the morning so that he could set up the personal Titans west party in the main ops room and then make a special birthday breakfast for his friend with the vegetarian recipes he had found on the internet. However, he walked through the main doors to see not only Raven sipping her tea, but Beast Boy enjoying a cup as well. Out of personalized mugs. Were they trying to get caught?

"Uh, hey guys! BB, happy birthday man! Decided not to sleep in on your special day?" Cyborg made his way to the refrigerator to gather the ingredients he needed for a vegetarian course.

"Nah, too excited to sleep! I'm 18 today, how could I sleep through it?!" A bright toothy grin was plastered on his face.

"Alright, well, I'm gonna go ahead and make you breakfast, sit tight little man."

"Ew! No! You're gonna try to make me eat bacon or something!"

"What! No, I was just going to make you a— whatever this thing is." Cyborg handed him a print out of the recipe he was using.

"Ooh, spinach quiche! That actually sounds pretty good!"

"What I tell you? What kind of friend tries to make his vegetarian buddy eat meat on his birthday? I'm not that heartless," Cyborg said as he prepared the crust for the breakfast dish.

One quiche and two finally awakened Titans later, it was time for presents. Robin, grudgingly, gave him a "Get out of Morning Training Free" coupon. The changeling almost hugged the leader for that. Starfire gleefully handed her friend a statue of a kitten that she had obviously painted green and coated in glitter. He laughed heartily and obliged the Tamaranian princess with a bone crushing hug. Cyborg handed him a tightly wrapped gift that after a few tears was revealed to be the newest racing game for the Gamestation 4 that the two had been eyeing. Cyborg was quick to inform him that the gift was technically for the both of them and he fully intended on "kicking his little green butt" in every round they played. When it came to Raven's gift, the three other Titans waited expectantly for the changeling to open the gift, wonder what the empath would give to her "secret" boyfriend.

Beast Boy's eyes widened when he yanked the lid off the box. His other teammates looked over his shoulder with confusion.

It was one of Raven's cloaks.

"Wait, why—"

"Raven, this is the best!" Beast Boy interrupted his cybernetic friend. Raven's face stayed emotionless.

"Thats not just a gift to you. You're always trying to steal my cloak so now you won't bug me about it anymore."

"Its so soft!" Beast Boy said, burying his face in the cloak. He tried to hug the empath, but a panicked glare from her halted his progress. The other three looked at each other, Starfire looking uncomfortable and Cyborg trying to hold back laughter. Robin clapped his hands together loudly to draw attention to himself and to make an attempt on diffusing the awkwardness of the situation.

"Alright, while this is nice and all, we need to set up for the party. We have a few hours and a lot of green streamers to put up. Now, for the time being, Starfire, you're in charge of hanging up the lights and streamers, and when you're done, balloons. Cy, you're in charge of setting up the stage. Raven, I'd like you to start setting up chairs and tables and Beast Boy, you can help Cyborg if you want to do something, but its your birthday after all so you don't have to. I'll be picking up the food and drinks, so if you need anything, I'll have my communicator on. Are we clear?" Everyone nodded.

"Good. Lets get to work." Robin kissed Starfire on the cheek and then grabbed the keys for the T car before disappearing into the garage. Beast Boy looked at Cyborg.

"I'm gonna put this stuff in my room and then I'll help you out with the stage!" Without waiting for an answer, he trotted off to his room with his birthday presents wrapped up in Raven's cloak like a bag. Starfire, who had somehow managed to gather all of the purple and green streamers into her arms while they weren't looking, was dragging Raven up to the roof where the chairs and tables were contained in their racks. Cyborg followed at his own pace, grinning at the empath's discomfort. Beast Boy's Birthday Bash was going to be a blast.

TtTtTtTtTtT

After 17 rolls of green streamers, 8 rolls of purple streamers, 29 folding chairs set up properly, 1 folding chair smashed over Cyborg's head, 1 1/2 hours of setting up the staging with a lot of help holding things in place by 8 octopus arms, 43 purple and green balloons, 17 accidentally popped balloons, 3 pauses to help unravel Starfire from streamers she had flown into, and 4 tables that were finally set up with drinks and snacks when Robin got back, the roof was almost ready for the guests to come. Beast Boy was changing into civilian clothes while the rest of them dealt with any finishing touches. Bee had shown up with the rest of Titans East and her band and helped them as well.

"Sup, Sparky," Bumblebee said, leaning an elbow on the stage that Cyborg was currently underneath. He rolled out from under the metal frame and grinned widely.

"Hey, Bee, glad you could make it! Wheres the band?" The winged girl nodded in Argent and Jinx's direction. All three wore tank tops bearing a logo and the name 'Leaders of Anarchy'.

"They're setting up the equipment. I can't believe we're actually performing, we haven't done a gig this big before." She gave a nervous chuckle. The robotic man hefted himself out from under the stage and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Hey, don't worry. You'll do great! So… 'Leaders of Anarchy' huh? Didn't know you were such a rebel." She raised an eyebrow and huffed.

"Well, I was a double agent in the HIVE if you'd recall, but I didn't choose the name. Jinx and Argent came up with that." A sudden burst of spanish rap turned their attention to the back of the stage were Mas and Menos had already set up and were messing with the turntables. They laughed as Kid Flash rushed away from Jinx and her electric guitar to chat with the twins about their equipment. Though neither could understand each other, all three talked at a rapid-fire pace while an irritated Jinx glared daggers into the back of her boyfriend's head. Bumblebee turned back to Cyborg and smirked.

"I'm gonna go get the girls so we can practice. Wish me luck, Sparky," she said, planting a kiss on Cyborg's human cheek before fluttering away. He chuckled and got back to finishing the wiring on the stage. He looked up in time to see his green friend exit the door from the tower. He was clad in cargo shorts, Converse high tops, and a bro-tank that read 'I'm a Beast' in thick green lettering. The cybernetic man shook his head at the changeling.

"Dude, you look like one of those jerks that we make fun of when we're at the pizza parlor," Cyborg said, jokingly but with mild underlying concern. Beast Boy looked down at his outfit and then back at Cyborg with puppy eyes.

"But I thought I looked cool…" Cyborg sighed.

"Whatever, just don't you dare change your attitude or I swear I'll drag you back downstairs to change." Beast Boy grinned and ran over to the three speedsters to join in their incoherent conversation regarding the turntable equipment. Once finished, Cyborg wandered over to where Raven was seated, the latter drinking something from a glass. Upon further inspection, he saw that her eyes were closed and she had a hand pressed up against her forehead.

"Hey, Raven. Um, what are you drinking?" Cyborg stared at the swirling reddish drink in the empath's hand. She looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Cayenne pepper in water. I'm picking up on Beast Boy's excitement and it's way too much, its giving me a headache."

"And… cayenne pepper helps?"

"Of course. I wouldn't be drinking it if it didn't." Cyborg put his hands up in surrender at Raven's icy response.

"Sorry, don't kill me 'cause I'm curious. All the Titans in one place, each teammates' emotions, huh? That's gonna do a number on your head, won't it?"

"Aren't you perceptive." Raven pinched the bridge of her nose. Cyborg opened a panel on his arm and began tapping at the screen, each tap making a small beep that only infuriated Raven more.

"Must you do that now?" Raven snarled. Cyborg shot her an annoyed glance.

"Rae, I'm trying to help you out, just be patient for a sec'," Cyborg retorted. After a few minutes of tapping, beeping, and growling, Cyborg grinned at the demoness. He hit one more button and suddenly her eyes widened and she stared at him.

"How did you—"

"Muffle the emotions around you? Well, I don't wanna bore you with the tech stuff, but I've had an idea about this for a while now. I had the beta version all set and with just a little calibrating and fine tuning, its functioning now. So I've got an 100 meter radius around my internal satellite thats emitting emotion-muffling signals in the mind. Basically, a silencer for your empathy. Should cover the whole roof, but you might want to stick around wherever I am in case the signal is weak farther out." Raven stared at her friend in awe and shock.

"It… how?" She managed to stutter out, but Cyborg just waved a hand.

"If you really want to know, I'll show you the programing for it later and explain it to you. But the others are about to arrive and it'll take some time to tell you about. Were you gonna change into civvies or just stay in uniform?" Raven opened her cape to show that she was indeed wearing her civilian clothes: a black t-shirt and shorts.

"But the cloak stays," came Raven's monotone statement. As soon as the last word was out of her mouth, a beeping sounded from Cyborg's arm and soon after a bell tolled to tell the residents that someone was at the door. Cyborg flipped open the panel on his arm that sent him the security camera feed. Kole, Jericho and Pantha were displayed on the tiny screen. He snapped the panel shut and looked over at Beast Boy, who looked at his robotic friend with anticipation.

"What're you waiting for grass stain? Go answer the door! Let's get this party started!" The green animorph was quickly through the door to the stairs and could be seen trotting down the stairs as the door closed slowly after him.

The party of the century was about to begin.

Sorry that there wasn't much fluff or anything in here, its more of a transition chapter I suppose.